Well we can be sure that the live action Green Lantern will definitely be Hal Jordon. Word is the role may head to Ryan Gosling [/The Notebook]. That's not anywhere near concrete but atleast we know Hal's the man with the ring.

At a recent New York party DC President Paul Levitz disclosed some info on certain projects (after a few drinks reportedly).

Superman Reboot:

After the reboot was given the green light Kevin Spacey was offered a return as Luthor. That we knew, but someone else came by DC to discuss his character's new direction... Brandon Routh! Hardly a Press Release announcement, but things slip when you had a few shrimp cocktails. All goes well, Superman... returns 2012. But only after Nolan signs on for Batman 3. More on that later.

Green With Envy:

Despite being talked about long ago, Green Arrow's jail-bird adventure "Super Max" is moving at a snail's pace. Green Lantern; bought to light merely weeks ago, is on a fast track for the big screen. How fast are we talkin? 2010! But the date could be revived if Nolan signs on for Batman 3...

"Now there's a Batman":

Although we've heard all the hoopla about Depp being targeted to play Riddler and where the Nolan-verse of Batman can go storywise (Boy Wonders anyone?), but Nolan himself has yet to sign on for three. It's possible he could be satisfied with TDK as far as his Batman run is concerned. But if he is looking for a trilogy (a year ago he admitted to having done 2 sequels to 'Begins with his brother), he's probably just making WB sweat and/or raise their offer before he eventually signs on.

Now DC is planning the next slate of movies around Batman 3, which they want by 2011. That's right; it seems DC's secret weapon against Marvel's superteam epic is a follow-up to The Dark Knight. No pressure, Nolan. They also want it to be center piece between GL and Supes. Hmm...

If GL kicks ass, and I've read that the script does just that, a sequel would release around Superman's second return (assuming DC gets over the one-movie-a-year silliness). By this time Nolan would have delivered his final(?) Batman movie and the next one would presumably be a revamp, one adjusted for the colorful aesthetics of GL and Supes universe perhaps?

I predict Justice League by 2015, released alongside Teen Titans (starring a post-Nolan Batman 4 Robin).

Hrmm...so we're getting a rebooted Superman, but with the same Supes and Luthor? Cool with me, as long as they're finally getting something off the ground. Maybe they'll edit out that damn kid.

As for tying the Batman franchise to the other two, I don't think it's really necessary, but at the same time, it wouldn't be impossible to do. If they're going to keep Superman Returns just semi-in-continuity (like the new Hulk movie did with the last one), they could say that the two Batman movies happened during the five years that Supes was gone. And I really don't think blending the two different atmospheres of Gotham and Metropolis would be that hard, as long as you get a writer who knows their stuff.

Ya know the thing about trying to 'fit' these characters together... The magic in cross-overs (and especially Batman/Superman) is how wonderfully different they are from each other. Superman would be a wacky addition in the Nolan-verse, but that's the point. Bale trying to tell Routh how fucked up the human mind could be, and Routh condemning Batman's tactics is stuff of dialogue gold because... On one hand we experienced Superman's quest for good and how he's seen the best in people (Lois jumping in the water to save him, how the people cheered the rescue of the shuttle). On the other hand we've just recently seen some terrible human possibilities (Joker, Joker... Joker). With both movies displaying wildly different tones, them coming together as they are, is the story. I recommend John Byrne's Superman revision "Man of Steel", the issue where post-Crisis Supes first meets post-Crisis Bats (#4, I think). I also suggest the on-going Batman/Superman series that continually deals with their contrasts. Those works would greatly ease worries about how these guys could work in a film.

Now your idea about TDK occurring during Supes absence; awesome. Not that Superman's presence is in any way related to the Nolan-verse, but the dark events in TDK could be used to credit the idea of a world without Superman. The plight of Dent and Dawes, that only one could be saved realistically; would have been cupcake for Superman. But in a world without him we are subjected to monsters, where men need to dress up, break the law, and essentially frame themselves for murder just to create a false sense of hope in a city.

So if some alien demi-God in a red cape came to town after all that expecting a parade, you're not gonna shake his hand. You're not gonna talk about Leagues and shit, you're gonna find a chunk of meteor rock and put him in his place. That is comic-movie epicality waiting to happen (did I just make up a word?). Great idea.

My guess is that their Superman 'reboot' is just going to be a sequel with a different mood. More emphasis on the action, maybe an actual fightable villain, etc. And while I don't think they'll be rebooting Batman per se, if Nolan and Bale don't want to make more, WB's going to find people who do. They're going to ride that gravy train for all it's worth.

I believe when Nolan finishes Batman 3 they should rework it to fit with DC's more colorful cast, and use the Nolan-verse as a vague history (remember that?). This way we could get Robin, and Superman appearances without throwing out Nolan's work completely.

I still don't see how integrating the Batman franchise with the others is "throwing away" Nolan's work. Sure, BB and TDK were both 'grittier' than typical superhero fare, but that's kind of the point. The stark contrast between Batman's neck of the woods and Superman's or Flash's is part of what makes the characters mesh together so well. Just because Nolan's being snotty about whether his movies should cross over doesn't mean it can't be done.

Wasn't everyone just saying how mr. freeze, robin, and poison ivy wouldn't work in Nolan's vision of Batman? But now we're all okay with them adding GL and Superman?

I'd rather see them try and integrate the former, as GL and Superman is just too far-fetched for the universe Nolan has created. I disagreed with the popular opinion, and thought you could stretch the realism of Nolan's movies to create a grittier, more suitable version of some of baman's more out-there rogues, but extraterrestials is where I draw the line.

Wasn't everyone just saying how mr. freeze, robin, and poison ivy wouldn't work in Nolan's vision of Batman? But now we're all okay with them adding GL and Superman?

I'd rather see them try and integrate the former, as GL and Superman is just too far-fetched for the universe Nolan has created. I disagreed with the popular opinion, and thought you could stretch the realism of Nolan's movies to create a grittier, more suitable version of some of baman's more out-there rogues, but extraterrestials is where I draw the line.

I believe I have a history of supporting any possible comic crossovers and characters (including a lengthy idea on a Nolan-ized Robin not two pages ago). Besides, its just me and Nowhere Man riffin on the matter. For all the respect for Nolan's universe I have, its still a sub universe to the DC mythology - and at some point Batman has to party up with Robin, Superman, whoever.

Exactly. If WB is going to start trying to link their movies together, they've got to bear in mind that Batman is just a small facet of the DC Universe, not the other way around. They shouldn't be trying to re-fit a whole universe's worth of characters in order to shoe-horn them into one guy's mythos.

As for "realism" in the Nolan movies, come on. The first movie was about an ancient ninja cult who tried to set off a made-up WMD, only to be stopped by a guy who trained with them for a montage or two rather than his entire life like the others. The second one was about a mass-murdering clown who was able to stuff ferry boats and entire buildings full of explosives without anyone noticing him, and made plans so dependent on advanced prior knowledge of the heroes' decisions that he might as well be a psychic, and the same rubber-suit ninja stopping him with X-Ray vision that he gets from cell phones.

That's not to say Batman Begins and The Dark Knight aren't awesome. They kick ass in more ways than Baskin Robbins has flavors (so at least 32) What I'm saying is that the whole notion that there's no room for fantastical elements in the Nolan movies is absurd, because there's plenty of it already there. As long as it's written properly, you could add in Robin, Mister Freeze, Clayface, or the goddamn Bat-Mite if you wanted.

Beyonce has expressed interest in playing a superhero... namely Wonder Woman.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Beyonce

I want to do a superhero movie and what would be better than Wonder Woman? It would be great, and it would be a very bold choice. A black Wonder Woman would be a powerful thing. It's time for that, right?

No, Beyonce, it is not time for that. And if such a move would be made, Samantha Lothan(SP) should be leagues ahead of you in the audition pool. But generally, we should not shake it up for shaking it up's sake.

So, the black lady with the big head on MSNBC's First Look just reported that SHia leDouche and Eddie Murphy have signed on for the 3rd Batman movie. Also, some English chick I never heard of is supposed to be Catwoman. I'll be the first to say "Mr. Murphy has no place in a Batman movie. And I would suggest Shia make a GOOD movie before trying to do Batman, but Aaron Eckhart was fantastic as Harvey Dent, so I'll hold my tongue for now.

The reports pegged Eddie as the Riddler, LeBeouf as Robin, and Rachel Weisz as Catwoman.

A massive to the first two, since a) Nolan's been adamant since day one that Robin won't be in his series and b) Eddie would be a terrible Riddler, and not because he is black. But a little more searching shows that both the Eddie rumour and the Shia rumour have been debunked already, with only Rachel Weisz's mention as a candidate for Catwoman being acknowledged as a "real possibility".